


It's different, on the other side of the world

by kayejwrotes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas Fluff, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, New Year's Eve, Pro Volleyball Player Oikawa Tooru, University Student Iwaizumi Hajime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28324071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayejwrotes/pseuds/kayejwrotes
Summary: Tooru spends his first winter holidays away from home with Hajime, in California.Even if some things are different, it is for the best sometimes.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime & Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25
Collections: Haikyuu Secret Santa 2020





	It's different, on the other side of the world

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlueOfSL](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueOfSL/gifts).



> Merry Christmas/Holidays everyone!  
> This is my gift for BlueOfSL for this year's HQ Secret Santa event!  
> I hope you will enjoy this short fic of mine!

The weird thing about long-distance relationships - of every kind - it’s that you lose the time and place, the here and now, of people at some point.   
You develop weird rituals - like the exact emoji sequence to send first thing in the morning, as a sort of convoluted Morse code to quickly let people know you are doing okay, but not wanting to say "I'm okay" all day every day - and along the way, there's also the rupture of every routine you used to have with them. Relationships change and evolve, even when you try to cling to your old habits as much as you can.

Tooru noticed it when he first moved to Argentina and Hajime to California.

It was weird, because some part of them, of their relationship, was still where they'd left it, in the lobby of the airport, and at the same time, some part of it had moved further away, travelling across the globe with them both, evolving.

In a way, it felt weird knowing they were both on the same continent, just a few time zones apart, and yet it still felt weird not being even closer, as they were in Japan.

They were closer than everyone else and yet not enough. He couldn’t actually go down the street and just talk to Iwa whenever, but he could text him whenever and he would answer almost in real-time, being only 3 hours behind Tooru. 

Calling home, was a bit trickier with the 12-hour difference, he was always awake when others were sleeping and he’d be sleeping when they’d be waking up.

He got used to badly taken selfies of Hajime running along one of Irvine’s bicycle lanes - earbuds snugly in his ears, tanned (because Iwa always forgot to reapply his sunscreen if no one was around to remind him of it), old faded t-shirt and the ocean roaring at his side. He got used to eating churros or medialunas with mate first thing in the morning. The fact that he could get a dessert as breakfast never ceased to amaze him (but sometimes he missed the simplicity of white rice, with fish and tamagoyaki).

When Christmas came around and the winter holidays break too, the thought of being the weird ones among the other people around them cemented.

Christmas was such a different thing back home.

What about eating KFC straight from the box on Christmas Eve?

What about ordering the same strawberry shortcake with the little chocolate Santa?

Nothing of what they knew was important here.

That first year, they felt lost, not able to travel all the way back home to feel a semblance of normalcy among all the craziness people around them were having for Christmas. So they did the next best thing.

Tooru had put away some money from his allowance as a pro player in San Juan, so he bought the first ticket to Irvine, California, and spent his holidays at Hajime's cramped uni dorm - his roommate had luckily gone home for the holidays and didn’t care one bit if Hajime's friend slept there.

They developed a sort of weird routine. They ate regular KFC on the floor of Hajime's room, drinking beer and soda, and since there was no way to get a strawberry shortcake like home, they settled on some cupcakes with extra icing and strawberries.

The next best thing. And yet, there was no visit to temple planned for the first day of the New Year, because there was no temple to visit. There was no soba for the 31st.

They went to the plaza to watch fireworks and count down the minutes until the New Year with hundreds of tipsy strangers. 

It was different, it was nice.

Like it was different and nice that first tipsy kiss they shared on the first minute of the New Year.

At first, the only thing he had registered was the surprise in Hajime’s eyes and the taste of the crispness of the sparkling wine they have just cheered with.

He hadn’t intended to kiss Hajime. Many things were different here, on the other side of the world, and in the long months spent alone in Argentina, he’d learned that his feelings for Hajime were different too. There was something more beside friendship, something that he wanted to tell him when he’d go to Irvine for the holidays, and Tooru had a plan for that. A date, on the first day of the New Year, because on that day he hoped he’d be able to start this new journey with Hajime. 

But even if he’d sabotaged his own efforts to sweep Hajime away with an amazing date, he couldn’t find in himself to care about that, because it had felt so right to have Hajime’s lips against his own. They had slotted together perfectly, like pieces of the same puzzle. Leaning in, while looking at Hajime had been so natural. How could he not have wanted to kiss him when he looked as beautiful as he did, with his tanned skin under the colourful lights of these Californian fireworks over them?

The worry of being rejected, the doubt of his feelings not being reciprocated hadn’t crossed his mind until now when seconds stretched among their lips, Hajime’s gaze searching silently his own and Tooru didn’t know for what, when all his love was there for him to take.

He was opening his lips to speak to him, tell something, maybe retreat and give the blame to the heady taste of the sparkling wine, but if it felt right before… It felt even better when Hajime’s right arm snaked around his neck and dragged him down, lips crashing against his own, cold nose pressing in his cheek, but Tooru never felt warmer than in that moment.

They kissed, and kissed and kissed, the New Year rolling in, and people cheering and laughing and dancing around, as they pressed their lips together, even when it became difficult for how wide they were smiling.  


Tooru’s New Year began in the best way possible, with his cheeks hurting from how much he was smiling, his arms tightly secured around Hajime’s torso and warm fluttering in his chest with every new kiss they exchanged.

All in all, it wasn’t that bad. Winter holidays, were different on the other side of the world, but different wasn’t bad if it meant feeling Hajime’s giddy laugh against his neck.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this fic, and as always, comments and kudos are appreciated! :D
> 
> If you'd like to chat a bit feel free to talk to me on twitter and tumble @kayejwrotes!


End file.
